the daily musings ... of faith and culture, of life and love, of fun and games, of a song and dance man, who is keeping his day job.

Saturday, March 20, 2010

Sunday Showdown: The Lowdown

In order to bring you up to date on the current health care reform bill being debated in Congress as this is written, we found this video clip produced by the National Republican Congressional Committee. We here at mwbh don't like to use something so obviously partisan. But it's concise, and it's hilarious, so we'll give it a pass.

Speaking of which, a procedure known as "deem and pass", which essentially presumes a vote for one thing to be a vote for something else altogether -- you get to vote for something without being blamed for voting for it; neat trick, huh? -- is being dropped by one congressman after another like a hot potato. This after Michael McCConnell, the pre-eminent constitutional scholar from Stanford University, published an opinion in The Wall Street Journal calling it unconstitutional. (That, and you'd have to be a major weasel!) Even supporters of the bill are backing away from it.

Access to health care remains a problem for a large segment of the American people, even some with full time jobs. My son is 24 1/2, and hasn't had it since he became ineligible for my plan at 22. It was different for me at his age. As a free-lancer just out of college, I was able to obtain major medical insurance from an independent insurance agent. He hasn't been so lucky. There is some consolation that he's young, but other than that ...

It shouldn't be against the law to elect not to buy something. In fact, it's probably against, say, the Constitution, maybe? But the current health care reform legislation being considered by Congress will do precisely that. And despite what some people want to delude us into thinking, it will fund abortions. That's right, a form of birth control which even Margaret Sanger condemned -- really, I looked it up -- will be on the American taxpayer. (It may not be explicit, but there's a "back door" way to for it to happen, and our staff is working on bringing it to you. Soon.) Bret Baier of Fox News tried to get an answer to some of this in an interview with the President (see clip below). But the President doesn't like to be interrupted when he's ducking a hard question.

But he didn't duck this: “I don’t spend a lot of time worrying about what the rules are.” This from a guy who taught constitutional law for ten years.

You still with me? Here comes the good part.

We here at mwbh were able to obtain a copy of a letter that appeared in The Indianapolis Star. Doctor Stephen E Frazer is an anesthesiologist in Indianapolis. He wrote this to Democratic Senator Evan Bayh, who recently announced he will not be seeking another term.

Keep in mind that this guy isn't some crank who sits at a computer in his pajamas all day writing a blog. He went to medical school. We've added our own emphasis in a few places.

Senator Bayh,

As a practicing physician I have major concerns with the health care bill before Congress. I actually have read the bill and am shocked by the brazenness of the government's proposed involvement in the patient-physician relationship. The very idea that the government will dictate and ration patient care is dangerous and certainly not helpful in designing a health care system that works for all. Every physician I work with agrees that we need to fix our health care system, but the proposed bills currently making their way through congress will be a disaster if passed.

I ask you respectfully and as a patriotic American to look at the following troubling lines that I have read in the bill. You cannot possibly believe that these proposals are in the best interests of the country and our fellow citizens.

Page 22 of the HC Bill: Mandates that the Govt will audit books of all employers that self-insure!!

Page 30 Sec 123 of HC bill: THERE WILL BE A GOVT COMMITTEE that decides what treatments/benefits you get.

Page 29 lines 4-16 in the HC bill: YOUR HEALTH CARE IS RATIONED!!!

Page 42 of HC Bill: The Health Choices Commissioner will choose your HC benefits for you. You have no choice!

Page 50 Section 152 in HC bill: HC will be provided to ALL non-US citizens, illegal or otherwise.

Page 124 lines 24-25 HC: No company can sue GOVT on price fixing. No "judicial review" against Govt monopoly.

Page 127 Lines 1-16 HC Bill: Doctors/American Medical Association - The Govt will tell YOU what salary you can make.

Page 145 Line 15-17: An Employer MUST auto-enroll employees into public option plan. (NO choice!)

Page 126 Lines 22-25: Employers MUST pay for HC for part-time employees AND their families. (Employees shouldn't get excited about this as employers will be forced to reduce its work force, benefits, and wages/salaries to cover such a huge expense.)

Page 149 Lines 16-24: ANY Employer with payroll 401k & above who does not provide public option will pay 8% tax on all payroll! (See the last comment in parenthesis.)

Page 150 Lines 9-13: A business with payroll between $251K & $401K who doesn't provide public option will pay 2-6% tax on all payroll.

Page 167 Lines 18-23: ANY individual who doesn't have acceptable HC according to Govt will be taxed 2.5% of income.

Senator I guarantee that I personally will do everything possible to inform patients and my fellow physicians about the dangers of the proposed bills you and your colleagues are debating.

Furthermore, if you vote for a bill that enforces socialized medicine on the country and destroys the doctor-patient relationship, I will do everything in my power to make sure you lose your job in the next election.

Respectfully,

Stephen E. Fraser, MD

We know that Senator Bayh isn't planning to run again, so the last threat may be an empty one. But he may find successor candidates backing away from his endorsement, depending on what goes down. Even now, attorneys are spending the weekend preparing to take this to the Supreme Court on some pretty obvious constitutional grounds. And even if that doesn't work, there is reason to believe that most state legislatures will try to block this. So it could be months before this bill is implemented.

Most of the American public is against this bill, and yet in the next 24 hours, it could go either way. Is that an indication of our elected representatives truly representing us?

You may wish to call your senator and/or representative in the next 24 hours and remind them..